Anyone who lives in an area where it snows knows of the trouble of getting one's car out of the snow so that it may be used. Whether a user's car is left outside for a single storm, multiple storms, the user merely has the bad luck of being “plowed-in,” snow can have meaningful effects on the speed with which someone can access and utilize their car. Further, if a user is driving an automobile during a snowstorm or on roads that have not been cleared since the past snowstorm, snow will accumulate in and on the treads of the tires. As maintain contact with the road is the primary function of tires, having a snow intermediary can seriously jeopardize the safety of operating the vehicle.
Further, in addition to accumulation of snow or ice on the tires, the combination of snow and ice may accumulate in between the spokes of a wheel. This problem is surprisingly common, and can cause the entire car to shake, or can stop the wheels from rotating all together.
However, existing tires provide limited or no mechanisms for addressing these situations. As such, there is a need for a tire that is capable of melting snow that has accumulated on or near a car's tire.
Review of related technology:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,350,963 pertains to a heated tire for melting snow and ice that contacts a vehicle's tire tread. The heated tire includes a vehicle tire that has a heating apparatus integrally formed within the tire between the tire tread and the outermost steel belt and is automatically activated by a control unit interlinked to a temperature sensor.
U.S. Patent Publication No.: 2009/0314407 pertains to a system for and method of reducing the rolling resistance of a tire by pre-heating the tire prior to use.
U.S. Patent Publication No.: 2010/0187212 pertains to a tire warmer, in particular for tires to be used in motor-cycling and motor-racing, which comprises a body wrappable to the wheel, at the tire, and seating a resistor for heating the tire. Such resistor is connected to electrical supply means actuable by a control device connected to a temperature sensor associable to the tread of the tire. Moreover, the tire warmer comprises a regulating device of the pressure of gas contained by the tire.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,475,199 pertains to an electrically conducing pneumatic tire.
U.S. Patent Publication No.: 2014/0069558 pertains to a tire defrosting system includes a tire having steel belts and a tire tread covering the steel belts, and a power source electrically connected to said steel belts of said tire. The power source provides electrical current to the steel belts so as to heat and increase the temperature thereof and in turn the tire tread so as to melt an accumulation of snow or ice on the tire thread. The power source, such as a car battery, is electrically connected to the steel belts by a pair of wire conductors. The tire includes a thermometer to monitor the internal temperature thereof and to provide an automatic shutdown mechanism.
U.S. Patent Publication No.: 2015/0174969 pertains to a tire which contains a pathway for transferring heat within a tire comprised of a heat transfer rubber conduit composed of at least one operational, physically functional, heat conductive tire component. In one embodiment, for a cured rubber tire, the heat transfer rubber conduit is provided as a pathway for transfer of heat generated within the tire to an external surface of the tire for dissipation of the conducted heat. In another embodiment, for an uncured rubber tire, the heat transfer rubber conduit is provided as a pathway to transfer heat applied to an outer surface of the tire to the interior of the tire. The heat conductive tire component(s) of the heat transfer conduit is/are each comprised of a heat conductive rubber composition containing acetylene carbon black. In one embodiment, the heat transfer rubber conduit is provided as a pathway for conduction of heat to or from a less heat conductive rubber component which adjoins at least one of such heat conductive rubber components.
Various devices are known in the art. However, their structure and means of operation are substantially different from the present invention. Such devices fail to provide a device that is integrated, controlled electronically by a computer, and will generate heat while in use. At least one embodiment of this invention is presented in the drawings below, and will be described in more detail herein.